To Die, To Sleep
by GreySide58
Summary: When Ginny's life is threatened by an illness, Harry is desperate for a way to save her and in the process asks Malfoy to help him.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing, I promise**

_"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away  
Now it looks as though they're here to stay  
Oh, I believe in yesterday_

_Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be  
There's a shadow hanging over me  
oh, yesterday came suddenly"_

_~Beatles-"Yesterday"_

* * *

Harry sat in the chair next to Ginny's bed. It was almost midnight, but he refused to leave her side. The healers had told him a year ago that she wouldn't last more than a year; he hadn't believed them then. He had now spent nearly a month sitting beside her unconscious body, refusing to admit that she would soon be leaving him and their children.

"Brats not with you tonight, Potter?" Harry looked up to see Malfoy, now Healer Malfoy, walk into the room.

"No, not tonight. They're with Molly and Arthur." They were silent for a minute while Malfoy looked over Ginny's chart.

"She's not waking up again is she?" Malfoy put the chart down as he looked over at the man he'd come to view as a friend in the past year.

When Harry had first come to St. Mungo's with Ginny, Malfoy had attempted to act more professional than usual. He'd spoken mainly to Ginny, talking to Harry only if he had to. As time went on they talked more, but always kept it business like. Then two months earlier Ginny had collapsed. When Harry brought her in she was barely hanging on. The healers took her right away. Harry had alternated between sitting and pacing while he waited. By the time Malfoy came out he was sitting again.

"How is she?" he'd asked immediately.

"She's stable now and just resting. However Po-", Malfoy paused and made a quick decision, "Harry, the cancer's spreading."

"Wh-What's that mean?" Harry briefly noted the use of his first name.

"It means that she could either lose her battle sooner than expected or that she'll fall into a coma that she may or may not ever wake up from." Harry had looked at Malfoy with a look that Malfoy was sure he hadn't seen in all the time the two had been coming to him. The man's eyes had always shown what he was feeling, it wasn't always complete, but Malfoy could usually assess what he was feeling by looking at him. This time however Harry looked truly broken, in his eyes, in his face, even in his posture. It was something new to the blond, something he never wanted to see.

"Isn't there something you could do?"

"I'm sorry, Harry. Her time's almost up, all you can do now is keep her comfortable." Harry hadn't said anything then. The only acknowledgement was a mere nod.

Malfoy now looked at the black haired man, noting briefly how he'd aged in his time since finding out about Ginny's disease.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Potter, because you deserve the truth. Ginny has reached a point where any energy her body may have is being used to fight the cancer, meaning I don't think that she'll be waking up. I'm sorry." Harry merely nodded as he looked at his wife's face. He rubbed his thumb over her still fingers.

"I need you to do me a favor, Malfoy." He didn't look up.

"What's that?"

"I'm going to do a spell, one that will having me sleeping for a bit. I need you to make sure nothing goes wrong while I'm out."

"What's the spell?" Malfoy asked warily.

"If it works, maybe I'll tell you." This time Harry looked up. There was the tiniest bit of mischief in his eye along with the smallest of smirks. It was a look Malfoy hadn't seen seeing their time in Hogwarts, although then he usually tried to thwart the look by doing something prat worthy.

"I'm stopping the spell the moment something seems off."

"Alright, I understand."

"There any special counter curse or will the general one work?"

"_Finite_ should work fine."

"And you're sure you want to do this?"

"Just watch my body, Malfoy. I'll be back." Malfoy sighed. This was going against everything he'd learned and come to stand for since becoming a healer. He was supposed to keep people safe and help them if they weren't, not let them go off into danger if he could help it.

"Fine." Harry mumbled a couple words of latin under his breath before Malfoy saw a flash of blue light around him. Malfoy instantly went in search of a pulse the moment he saw the man's body go slack. He sighed in relief when he found one.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Potter." He muttered before summoning a chair to sit next to the bed of who had become his favorite patient. He wasn't going to leave until her idiot husband came to from whatever spell he had performed.

* * *

Harry blinked as he slowly opened his eyes. He wasn't sitting in a chair anymore, however he was lying in a bed. Had the spell not worked and Malfoy felt the need to place him in one of the hospital beds? As he became more alert he noted that that was indeed not true. The red curtains around the bed he was in told him that immediately. Though moments later they were ripped open as Ron poked his head in.

"Come on, mate, I'm hungry." Harry took in how much younger his best mate looked, as well as how much happier even if he was now complaining about being hungry. He smiled slightly.

"Alright, I'll be there in a minute, just gotta get changed." He reached over to the nightstand where he remembered putting his glasses so often and once again grabbed them. Shortly after he got his job with the ministry he had his eyes fixed, but now they were in need of glasses.

"Sure. See you downstairs." He started for the door before stopping and turning around.

"I almost forgot to tell you, Dean and Ginny broke up, so don't mind my sister if she's a little moody today." Ron told him before once again turning back toward the door. He closed the door before making his way down to the common room.

Harry, who had been standing, sat down heavily on the edge of his bed. He was really going to see Ginny, awake and perfectly healthy. The spell had really worked and he had a chance to maybe save her.


End file.
